Health: Next attempt at new organ donation rules
Thousands of seriously ill people are waiting for a donated kidney or liver. In order to increase the number of transplants, a completely different principle has been discussed for a long time. It is now becoming concrete in parliament.
A group of German lawmakers from various parties have introduced a bill to change the organ donation rules, proposing an opt-out system where adults are automatically considered organ donors unless they object. The bill aims to increase the number of life-saving organ donations, which has not significantly improved despite previous efforts.
Currently, 8,200 people are on waiting lists for organs, while 985 people donated organs after death in 2024, the highest number since 2012. A counter-proposal suggests increasing public awareness and encouraging people to make a decision about organ donation, rather than introducing an opt-out system.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's report — not a translation of it. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
